A Golden Tale
by itsButterCup
Summary: "Sometimes I feel as though I've lived a thousand lives. But none of them could ever have been as wonderful as this one right now, with you." Another storybook is found in Emma's closet telling another side to the stories they believe to be true. Storybrooke is about to get just a bit more complicated when a witch from Scotland is told that she is actually a princess. HermXOC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! New story here. This is going to be a Once Upon A Time / Harry Potter crossover fic. Hermione, as always, will be my main character from the HP series, and then**

 **we have our fave characters from OUAT**

 **Now mind you, I did not finish watching season 5 of OUAT yet, therefore this novel is a bit AU (AU within an AU—but you'll see how later). This is set during Season 6 of OUAT post-Underworld and HP will be set just Pre-WWW II.**

* * *

 **Enchanted Forest**

The screeching neigh of horse near by startled her out of her reverie. The scene being much too hauntingly familiar to her she quickly turned around and scanned her surroundings. Not too far off in the distance she saw a black horse galloping at a dangerous speed towards the market she was at. If the horse continued, not only would it kill a few pedestrians, but it would go straight off the port and drown the small being holding on for dear life.

"Help me!" The little girl cried.

She sprung into action, giving her basket of bread and berries to the man standing beside her. He called after her in concern after noticing the speed of the horse approaching, but her only focus was on stopping the horse from barreling into the town market.

She stopped just at the entrance of the market and stood still, with her hand stretched out in front of her.

"Halt!" She commanded, the horse hesitated a bit, but continued on. She yelled it once more, her tone carrying a forceful baritone that immediately made the horse skid to a stop. She quickly rubbed the horse's snout gently, after noticing its' wild eyes. The horse had been spooked.

She went around to the side of the horse at the sound of heavy breathing. A small heaving body laid on the horse, a thick, purple velvet cloak covering the body of the child.

"Are you okay, miss?" She asked in a soft tone.

The girl jumped, her back going straight and green eyes met brown ones.

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much. I don't know why Siren acted that way, she never has before. It was very peculiar."

The beautiful little girl talked a mile a minute. She had lightly-tanned skin, pure black curls that hung down to her waist, and light green eyes. She had a small, regal nose and full, dark red lips. When she smiled, a dimple appeared in her left cheek, and in her ears laid two tiny emeralds. She was absolutely stunning.

"Are you alright," the woman asked, she had to be sure.

"Yes ma'am, all because of you. What is your name?"

"Regina. Yours?"

"Morgan Jane. Morgan Jane Jones."

* * *

 **Storybrooke, Maine**

"Emma, where did you want me to put this?"

Emma looked up at her father to see him carrying in a large box labeled 'winter coats'.

"You can just put that in the basement for now. We have a long while before it's winter here again."

"And winter can't come soon enough, love." She felt strong arms wrap around her. The distinct smell of leather and rum filled her nose. She leaned backwards into his comforting embrace. Months ago she thought she'd never be able to feel this man's arms around her again.

She felt him kiss the spot right behind her ear. "I know you're thinking about all those months ago love. Knock it off. It is over. We're happy." She smiled tightly at him and squeezed his arm.

"I know. But for how long?"

Killian sighed. "For as long as we can get. Because of this damned town and our luck I know something will come up, but let's just hope we can at least get a few weeks of peace before then."

A throat cleared behind them. Killian quickly let go of Emma and turned to find David glaring at the two of them. Emma rolled her eyes.

"David..."

"I know Emma. But just because it's been awhile for you two doesn't make it any easier for me to watch." David smiled softly at his daughter. "I'll be out of your hairs soon, don't worry."

"Now that you have officially re-moved into your house, I say we celebrate tonight." Mary Margaret suggested walking in with Neil on her hip. David walked over to them, giving each one a kiss on the forehead. Neil giggled and reached out for David, who happily took the smiling baby boy.

"Party at Granny's tonight?"

A resounding "No!" went around the room. Snow looked surprised at Killian, Emma, Killian, and even Henry in the doorway.

"Well, why not?" She demanded putting her hands on her hips.

"Grandma, no offense, but every time there's a party at Granny's something goes wrong."

Snow was about to protest but Emma beat her to it.

"It's true. Face it, Granny's is a jinx." Emma unpacked the new silverware and put it away in the kitchen.

Killian nodded, "And some of us would prefer to have some peace for a while."

"You all are just being silly, now. Granny's is not a jinx and there have been plenty of times that we have all gone to Granny's and nothing bad ever happened." Snow argued.

"It only happens when parties are thrown and everyone shows up. Like the time Mom and Killian got sucked back in time to the Enchanted Forest, we had a party that night. Or when they came back and we had a party at Granny's and then Mariam showed up. Or the time—" Henry explained.

"Okay, okay. Maybe we just have really poor timing when it comes to throwing parties. It has nothing to do with Granny's being the location of the party."

"I thought you got your stubbornness from your father," Killian whispered to Emma. She only smiled at him, a real smile this time.

"I heard that!"

"Snow, maybe we are being a bit silly about it, but it doesn't make what Henry said any less true. Big gatherings at Granny's usually ends in a new adventure that none of us are quite prepared for. And I think I speak for everyone when I say that the Underworld was more than enough of an adventure to last us a lifetime." David soothed his wife.

"Literally," Killian mumbled. Snow looked at Killian sadly.

"You're right. I'm sorry," Snow pouted. Emma rolled her eyes again.

"Here we go," she said quietly to herself.

"I shouldn't have suggested a party so soon after what you faced in the underworld. You need more time to recover. It was very taxing on you Killian. You've been put through hell and I shouldn't expect you to be so strong afterwards."

Killian tensed. "Wait. I didn't say I'm not strong enough. I'm fine. Better than fine, actually."

"No, no, Killian. You need more rest." She put her hand on his cheek. "Maybe you should lay down some more." Killian squawked offended.

"And you David, the curse wore off years ago, you're getting older now, you'll need some more rest than you are used to having as well." Mary Margaret took Neil from his hands as he gaped at her.

"I'm not old!"

"Of course you're not Charming." She patted his chest and cmiled condescendingly.

Emma smirked.

"I don't need any rest," David protested.

"Neither do I. Let's have the party tonight. At Granny's!" Killian added.

"Only if you two insist," Snow prodded. Killian and David nodded assuredly.

"Excellent!" She marched out of the house.

Regina walked in, looking behind her oddly. She pointed at the spot Mary Margaret just exited. "Did she give another hope speech? Why does she look like she just ate a bowl of rainbows and happiness?"

"Because she just played David and Killian. She's throwing a party at Granny's for everyone to celebrate our return."

Regina gave her a look, "Doesn't she know that the old bat's restaurant is jinxed. Every damn time we have a party there, we have to fight a new villain or monster that comes out of nowhere?"

"We told her that, mom. But David and Killian were tricked by her into suggesting it." Henry smiled.

"Of course they were," Regina pursed her lips.

"We were not played," David denied.

"Nah, mate. We were. We were played badly." Killian scratched the bit of beard he had. He needed to shave. "Emma, do you know where my blades are?"

"You don't have a hook for that?" Regina smirked. Killian glared before a thought occurred to him.

"That's actually not a bad idea."

"It's in the box in the closet, I'll go get it." Emma said leaving Killian and Regina up to no good, she was sure. The faint sound of buzzing made her shake her head at the two.

Emma opened up the large, twin white oak doors of her—their closet. She had to keep reminding herself that she was now living with Killian. In their house. Henry would have a room for the nights that he would stay over, as he bounced between hers and Regina's. And they still had two more empty rooms, one on the first floor that she considered turning into an office of some sort and another next to Henry's room. She didn't really want to think about what that other empty room could be used for. Not now. Maybe not ever. Maybe when she was ready. If she was ever ready.

"Did you find them love?" Killian's voice brought her back to the present.

She yelled back. "Give me a second." She rummaged through the closet until she found the box labeled 'Killian's manly things' and smiled to herself. He was so afraid of his 'manly things' touching any of her feminine products. He nearly fainted when he realized that he grabbed a box of Emma's tampons when they packed up the rest of Emma's things. The look of horror on his face was priceless.

But something caught her eye.

It was a gold book, the little bit of light that peaked in front of the shades caught the book making it look as though it were glowing. Picking it up Emma immediately tensed. The golden book had words on the covered in a color and font that was all too familiar.

"Henry!"

Emma heard the pounding of her teenaged sons feet but she couldn't pull her eyes away from the book in her hands.

"Yes mom?"

"What is this?"

She felt him walk closer and he reached down to take the book from her hands.

"It looks like the story book. But different. Golden and shiny looking." He weighed the book in his hands and flipped through the pages. "It weighs pretty much the same. It's probably another dud, you know. Like the ones in the Author's mansion."

Henry flipped through the pages and gasped.

"Mom." In voice barely above a whisper.

Emma stood up immediately. Her eyes barely looked at the book before she called for Killian, Regina, and David. Her mind was whirring with questions, ones she was too afraid to ask. Ordinarily if she had found a book she didn't remember buying in her closet, she wouldn't have given it a second thought. But the last five and a half years Emma learned to never not give something a second thought. Especially things that had to do with fairy tales and the like.

"Emma what is it?" She heard her father ask.

"Love?" Killian's rich voice was enough to drag her eyes away from the book.

"Look." Henry held up the book. "Mom found another story book. And this one actually has things written in it." Henry continued to flip through the pages, too quick to reading anything.

"Henry be careful with that." Regina warned. "We don't know where it came from or how it came to be in your mother's closet. I think our safest bet would be to just forget about it."

"Mom, we can't just forget about it. At least, I can't. I'm the author mom, I feel this book vibrating, practically begging me to read it—or write in it. I'm still getting used to telling these feelings apart." Henry chuckled.

"Henry..."

"I kind of agree with Regina here, Henry. Nobody knows where this came from. It could have been planted here by someone. For now, at least, we keep it somewhere safe until we can have a chance to look through it. But tonight we already told Mary Marguerite we would go to Granny's tonight for some fun. We'll enjoy ourselves tonight and tomorrow reconvene and deal with it then. Okay?" David looked at everyone.

"Emma are you feeling alright?"

David's worried tone had everyone turning to look at Emma, except for Killian who had been staring at her the entire time.

Killian rubbed her arms up and down slowly. "Love?"

Emma brought a hand down to rest unconsciously over her stomach. "I don't know. Nothing, I'm fine."

Killian turned her around gently and held her face in the palm of his hands.

"Are you sure you're feeling well. We can stay in tonight if you want. I'm sure Mary Marguerite would understand."

Emma shook her head quickly. "No I'm fine. Whatever it was it passed quickly."

"Okay." But the look of worry did not leave his eyes.

"I'll put the book in my room with the other one." Henry began to walk up the stairs.

"And leave it up there for the night. I mean it Henry. Wait until the rest of us can be there with you."

"Sure." Henry kept walking up the stairs.

"I mean it Henry!" Regina yelled up the stairs.

David sighed. "Well that didn't last long."

"What?" Killian looked at David.

"The peace. It hasn't been that long since we've been back and I knew it was only a matter of time before something would break the peace once again." David's eyes roamed Emma's face, seeing her eyes distant.

"Yeah well it comes with the territory. Literally." Regina's mouth twisted. "I can't wait to see the look on Mary Marguerite's face when we tell her that the Old bat's place is really is a jinx."

"Not tonight, Regina. Please. Snow's really happy right now and I just want to give her one last night of peace." David pleaded.

Regina looked for a moment as though she was about to argue but then changed her mind.

"Fine. I'm much better at ruining people's spirits early in the morning anyway."

When David and Regina had left them alone, Killian ran his eyes over Emma once more. Her eyes were far away and he couldn't help thinking how he'd never hated a book more in his life. Everything was finally getting on track for he and Emma. They had their dream home, Henry had his own room with them, and now he felt like he had a real family of his own. Something he never really had but always yearned for.

Moments like these he wished he still had his ship. Whenever something was plaguing him he knew the Jolly Roger would always be there to help ease his mind. Emma would have been a vision on his ship. Her hair rivaling the sun's golden rays along the horizon, her flowery scents mixing with the sea breeze.

But then he'd look around at his home— _his home_ —and remember that he wouldn't give all of this up for anything. Emma deserved a house where she could raise her son and and sit by the fire drinking her blasted caramel confection. Life at sea would be too unstable.

"..you go?"

Killian pulled out of his thoughts and hadn't realized that Emma had begun running her nails along his beard.

"Huh?"

"I said where'd you go just now? You seemed so far away."

Killian raised an eyebrow. "Me? I only did what you had been doing for the past five minutes."

Emma sighed. "I'm sorry about all of that weirdness just now. I don't know what it was, but I'm good. I promise."

Killian nodded. "Just let me know if that 'weirdness' come back. It may have something to do with that book."

"Maybe." Emma's voice changed and a smirk appeared on her face. "But I don't want to talk about books right now. Not when we're finally alone."

Killian picked up on Emma's mood quickly and smiled.

"Henry's upstairs," he whispered.

"Then I guess you better keep quiet." Emma pulled his by the scruff of his leather coat.

"It's not me with that problem, love."

* * *

 **Forest of Dean, Scotland**

"Hermione behind you!" A dark purple light streaked past her ear, barely missing her as she tucked and rolled out of the way.

She quickly got back to her feet and shot a curse blindly in the direction. She vaguely registered a body collapsing but she didn't have time to stop and stare at her target. She had to keep moving. She couldn't stop, not even for a second. A second could make the difference between life and death and she promised Harry that he would see the day where he had a family of his own. Particularly one with the red head beauty he left behind at home.

"On your right harry! Ron DUCK!" She called out, yelling at them from behind. She felt herself slowing down and pushed her body to speed up.

They were in the Forest of Dean the last few months, but there hideaway was discovered when Ron decided he wanted to discuss what was going on between her and Harry. He had been going on about what he saw in the locket after he destroyed it and it was driving her berserk.

Their voices got really loud and Snatchers found them, destroying all of her carefully laid wards and protective charms.

"SPLIT! We'll meet up at our safe spot okay." Harry shouted to them and without hesitation she turned right.

She continued to zig zag while periodically throwing curses over her shoulder. The trees began to clear out and she worried that she was getting lost. Her map of the forest was back at camp and she hadn't the time to grab it before Snatchers arrived. A glint from the sun caught her eyes.

 _Water_ , she thought. If she could just lose him quickly she would be able to hide underwater until the Snatcher went away. Wizards weren't too practical. They didn't use their surroundings to their advantages, instead, relied way too much on their magic.

Looking behind her quickly she noticed with relief that she couldn't see the Snatcher with the hideous face behind her. She could just barely make out the pounding of his feet and forced herself to run just a bit faster. Out of breath she made it to a murky pond surrounded by shrubs and a very large tree, its thick branches expanding around both sides of the pond like large arms.

Without a second thought, she waded into the pond until she was completely covered. She was glad that her parents had made her take those swimming lessons as a child. She still couldn't really swim but she knew how to hold her breath for a long time. Hermione opened her eyes and with surprise noticed a faint glowing at the bottom of the pond. Her curiosity got the best of her and she swam a bit deeper in the pond. A greenish-blue hue glowed from what looked like a bunch of oddly shaped rocks.

She quickly halted in her movements at the sudden intensity of the glowing began to increase. Frantically she moved her arms and legs to swim to the surface but she felt a sucking panicking caused her to lose the remaining oxygen she held in and the pulling sensation strengthened until Hermione felt herself losing consciousness, the glowing turning white in its intensity.

* * *

 **Storybrooke, Maine**

In Henry's room, while everyone had danced the night away and reminisced about the year's adventure, the golden book beside its companion glowed brightly, flipping open to the very first page.

* * *

 **That's it for the first chapter.**

 **I'm thinking about changing her name. Here is a list of possible names for Porter.**

 **1\. Cordelia**

 **2\. Morgan**

 **3\. Kai**

 **Personally I'm leaning more towards Morgan (which means of "dweller of the sea" in Celtic). It's also just a really pretty names. I usually like names that are unisex and Morgan fits the bill. I chose Porter originally because it was the first thing that popped in my head when I thought of Killian and the Sea. (Porter...Port—get it?)**

 **Anyway, let me know what you think about the story so far. Like I already mentioned, I already have the pairing I want in mind and this character has not yet been introduced to the OUAT sphere. I just hope I can publish this story completely before he ever is so that if OUAT decides to add this character, it won't interfere with the way I want to portray him.**

 **I'd love to see you all guess who he will be...(hint hint)...in the reviews.**

 **UPDATE: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT THE NAME CHANGE**


	2. Chapter 2

**So here's the second chapter of A Golden Tale and I am currently writing out a detailed outline of the story which is pretty much complete at this point. I know exactly where I want to take this story. I'm going to apologize in advance if I do not update as often for this story. This is my first OUAT ff and this is a whole new group of people I am writing for. I'm not even completely sure about the reception for this story.**

 **I feel like I should clear up a few things first: First, Hades and Zelena did not return to SB. They decided to stay in the Underworld and live out their own piece of forever there together. (I feel like that would be best with the way I plan to have this story unfold—and because I did not finish the rest of Season 5 or start Season 6). Second, Robin did not die and baby Robin's** **situation will be explained later in the story (possibly next chapter). Zelena opened the portal from the Underworld and everyone in Storybrooke that didn't belong there went to their respective homes already. I think I got everything, but just in case I forgot something, let me know.**

 **I hope you guys do enjoy reading it as much as I am going to enjoy writing it. And don't forget, authors need love too, so leave a comment or question in the review section. Hell, I'd even be happy to just see a hi :) in my review section.**

 **(That sounded** **a bit desperate for a second there.)**

 **But here's the next chapter...**

* * *

 **Storybrooke, Maine**

Emma wakes to the feel of small kisses peppered down the expanse of her neck and back. She smiled, stretching slightly.

"Good morning."

"Morning, love." She felt the curve of his smile on her back.

Emma hummed, not wanting to get out of bed in the least. It all felt a bit unrealistic at this point. She was in bed with the man of her dreams—her literal soulmate—her parents and younger brother were at home, a few minutes away by car, and her son was in his room, probably snoring his head off. She could never have wished for a more perfect future than this as a lonely teen on the streets.

"I can hear you thinking lass. It's too early for that," Killian teased, moving some her hair away from her face, softly caressing her cheek.

Emma turned to look at him. His dark mass of wavy hair in chaos on top of his head. It was funny to see this notorious pirate with the worst case of bedhead she's ever seen.

"I can't help it. In the morning is really the only time I have to think about everything. During the day I'm mostly action and quick thinking. It's nice sometimes to slowly think through everything and reflect." Her fingers ran down in his arm softly, tinkling the flesh.

Killian frowned, "You're not thinking about that book are you."

 _Well I am now_ , Emma smirked. "I wasn't."

Killian sighed. "Emma I really don't want you worrying about that too much. Seriously love, I saw how it affected you yesterday. I didn't like it."

Emma rolled over to face him fully. She brought her hand up to smooth the wrinkle in his forehead. For someone who hated how much she tended to worry and internalize a lot of things, Killian did his fair share of worrying as well. He was very protective of her and detested to see anything that could or would cause her any kind of distress.

"I don't know what yesterday was about, but I'm fine. I swear. We'll head on over to my parents house in a few hours and we'll all handle it then. Trust me," she threw a leg over his hip and smiled down at him. "There is nothing that this world can throw at us now that we can't handle. We've been through hell and back with each other. _Literally_. I think the universe can agree that we deserve a bit of a break now."

She leaned down to kiss the small frown that appeared on his face at the mention of Hell. Then she kissed him again at the small smile that appeared. Before she could kiss him once more he gripped her hip with his one hand, causing her to squeal, and flipped them both over to give her a proper kiss.

Emma moaned at the roughness of his calluses that made its trek from her calf and up her thigh. His thumb pressed down on the junction her thigh and hip, very close to his favorite spot. Emma ran her fingers through his hair, slightly scratching his scalp. Killian groaned, pulling his bruised lips away from hers and pushing his face into her crease of her shoulder and neck. Emma giggled, his facial hair tickling the sensitive skin.

Killian loved that sound.

"Mom! Killian! I'm ready to go to grams' and pop's house. Are you guys up yet?"

Killian groaned, not loving _that_ sound. Emma laughed at his frustration. Emma pushed against his chest, teasingly running her pinky along his nipple, and laughing deeply when he cursed her name.

"You and your boy are evil, Swan."

Emma threw her head back and laughed. "Oh now we're evil. Just the other day you were singing Henry's praises and moaning my name last night."

Killian hid a smile as his face was smashed into the bed. He felt her leave the bed and knew that their fun time was officially over for the morning. They would have to be adults again.

"That was before the boy hen blocked me."

"Cock blocked, Killian."

Killian turned over onto his back and pouted. "I still don't understand that love. It makes sense for a woman to say that, but why would a guy go after a cock anyway?"

Emma threw him a look over her shoulder as she made her way towards their private bathroom to shower.

"You know what I mean. Hens are female chickens so the saying should be hen-blocked for males who prefer those female parts."

"Finally, what took you two so long?" Henry asked around a mouth full of fruit loops.

"I was really tired from last night Henry. We were at Granny's pretty late last night." Emma put her hair into a ponytail and Killian fixed his leather jacket.

Henry nodded with a mouth full of fruit loops. Emma smiled at the way the fullness of his cheeks made him look like chipmunk. She couldn't believe that he was about to be 16 soon. It seems like just the other day she was still in Boston and he was a precocious 10 year old knocking on her door. He was so small back then. And now he was eating her out of house and home just for sport.

"Yeah. I guess we owe grams an apology since nothing happened last night at Granny's."

"You better not let Mary Margaret hear you call her that," Emma snorted.

"Too late. Her eye twitches a little when I call her that." Henry chuckled, causing some milk to dribble down his chin. He and Emma laughed a the image that popped into their head of the very poised and sophisticated ex-teacher's eye twitching.

"I see everyone is in a good mood this morning." Killian ruffled Henry's hair as he swept into the room and kissed Emma on the cheek. Killian couldn't get over the vision in front of him.

He never thought this type of life was what was destined for him. After all the lives he took and destroyed, after the way his father abandoned him and his brother on that ship, after all the bitterness and resentment he held onto after his brother's and Milah's death, he never thought he'd make it here, to have this this.. He finally had a family of his own. Sure, it wasn't a very orthodox one, not in the least, but whose is these days? Okay, maybe nobody has a family as convoluted and twisted as theirs, but it works. And he couldn't ask for anything more. Especially not the scene right in front of him, the love of his life and her—their son—as he came to start thinking of Henry as.

"Okay, I'm ready." Henry placed his empty bowl into the sink and stared at his mother and Killian.

Emma looked at the anxiousness that permeated from Henry and rolled her eyes behind her cup of coffee. "Okay kiddo, I'm coming."

Emma emptied out the rest of her cup's contents into the sink and pulled Killian from his thoughts. "Let's go Pirate. We have an anxious teenager who's ready to go."

Henry rolled his eyes. "Please mom. You and I both know those typical drama-filled, hormone-ridden, moody teenager years are already behind us."

"Oh yeah?" Emma put on her jacket and ran a hand through her hair. Henry nodded. "and when exactly did those years happen, because I don't recall them?"

"Mom, those years are for normal teenagers that live mundane lives. My life stopped being mundane when I found the first storybook. I will never be like a normal teenager and therefore will not have those normal teenage years."

Emma frowned a bit at that. She put an arm around and his shoulder and made her way outside as Killian locked up. "Henry, despite your childhood and adolescence, you will still have those experiences a 'normal' teenager would. Yours may just be a little latent since you took on a whole lot at a young age. I hate that you didn't have a normal childhood."

"Mom I didn't miss out on anything. I got everything I've ever wanted and more. Who else can say that their moms are The former Evil Queen and the princess daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, whom are their grandparents, and their step-dad is Captain Hook."

"-Dashing, rapscallion, lad. Don't forget to add that part at the end." Killian raised his hook in the air and winked at Henry.

Henry rolled his eyes. "Captain Hook, _dashing rapscallion._ "

"Better lad."

* * *

"Wow Grams, you really didn't have to make a feast for us."

Mary Margaret narrowed her eyes at her grandson.

"What have I told you about that word? And I thought it would be better if everyone had something to eat before we jumped into this book. Who knows what lays in there."

Henry looked the other way.

David caught this and smirked. "I think at least one person in this room does."

Emma looked at Henry, "Don't tell me you stayed up all night and read that book Henry."

Henry nodded, "Okay." Emma shook her head.

Regina gaped at the spread Mary Margaret had out as she made her way into their house. Three bowls of assorted muffins, a stack of pancakes, another of waffles, a huge plate of bacon and sausages, and pitchers of water and orange juice were spread out on the table.

"I have bowls of fruits in the kitchen, I'm going to put them out in a bit." Mary Margaret said as she pointed towards the kitchen.

"Regina, your son stayed up all night and read through that entire storybook when we specifically told him to wait until all of us could look at it."

Regina raised an eyebrow at him, "Why is that he's _my_ son whenever he's disobedient?"

"Because it was when he was with you that he stole my mom's credit card, purchased a bus ticket, snuck out to Boston to meet me, and you were none the wiser. Face it Regina, he was disobedient way before he met me."

Regina scoffed, waving a hand disinterestedly. "That was a one time thing." Regina pulled off her coat and adjusted the scarf around her neck. "It wasn't until you got here that he was talking back, sneaking all over town, keeping secrets, and getting himself into dangerous situations."

"Okay, okay you two. We get it. Henry's a horrible child who should be locked away in a tower for the rest of his life, hidden away from society in order to avoid the eternal shame that we would have." David interrupted the two.

"Hey!" Henry squawked.

Emma laughed at the offense that colored his face. Regina walked over to him and brushed some hair out of his face before smiling down at him softly.

"Did you really not get any sleep last night?" She asked quietly.

Henry patted the hand that was on his cheek, pushing it away slightly. "Of course I got some sleep last night mom. I didn't stay up _all_ night reading. I've gotten practice over the years at reading books really quickly."

"Can we just get to the book already! Enough of this mushy mushy stuff. You two had your time already to fight over the kid. It was interesting at first to watch, but now we're over it. We know you two are secretly the best of friends. Now let's just open the darn book!" Leroy grumbled. Everyone's eyes swung to look at him, only to notice a lot more people in the room that weren't there before.

"When did you all get here?" Killian asked, looking at the dwarves, Granny, Blue, Giuseppe, Belle, and Mr. Gold.

"You were all too interested in arguing over who was the worst mother to notice." Gold swaggered by..

"Rumple," Belle murmured, hitting him on the arm lightly. "You two aren't bad mothers. Children naturally rebel against their parents and adult figures. Just wait until those teenage years hit full force."

"That's what I said," Emma said sneaking a piece of bacon from the table.

"Can we eat Snow, I'm starving," David pouted.

"Just a second," she called from the kitchen. Everyone groaned. The food smelled wonderful. And no one was allowed to touch it.

"I say we take her down, she may be Snow White, but she can't take all of us down," Leroy plotted quietly to the group.

"I heard that," David said.

"But you didn't say no." Granny pointed at him with narrowed eyes.

David looked affronted. "Granny! Are you actually considering attacking Mary Margaret?"

"Look, I love the girl as if she were my own granddaughter. Heaven knows my actual granddaughter is off with who knows who and who knows where. But if I have to sit here for five more minutes smelling that delicious aroma and not eating any of food, I just may bring her down myself."

"Done!" Mary Margaret exclaimed proudly.

Everyone jumped, not having noticed she walked into the room. She noticed everyone was looking at her.

"What?"

There were murmurings of "nothing"s that rang out among the group and everyone rushed towards the table and grabbed a seat. Before long everyone had their fill and were lazily lounging back in their chairs, stomachs filled.

"So this new book I've heard of," Gold started. "Where is it?"

Henry cleared off the table in front of him and took the book out of his bag.

"How did you all hear about the book anyway?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Yeah, the only ones who were there when we found it were Killian, Emma, Henry, Regina, and Snow and I."

"You told me," Leroy said Mary Margaret. She looked confused.

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"No I did not. I would have remembered."

"Well you were pretty plastered last night, doll."

Mary Margaret gasped. "I was not."

"You were a wee bit drunk, love." Killian chimed in, pinching his fingers together to emphasize his point.

Mary Margaret gaped at them and stuttered out, "W-well. That-that still doesn't explain how everyone else heard of it."

Regina scoffed. "Oh please. Leroy's the biggest gossip in town."

"Oi. What of it?" He scowled at her.

She shrugged. "It's none of my business. All I'm saying is that you gossip so much you should have been named Gossipy instead of Grumpy."

"Or Gabby." Killian added. Everyone laughed at Leroy's insulted face except for Emma.

Killian turned to her noticing the absence of her chiming laugh and noticed that her eyes were glued to the first page of the book. The first picture wasn't the familiar image of Snow White and Charming grasping onto each other for dear life, staring off at someone out of the picture's focus, afraid. No, this image was of them at the altar, holding hands and staring lovingly at each other and Regina, in a beautiful pale green dress, standing at her side as her maid of honor. Regina had a smile on her face and was staring proudly at Snow.

"I think I'm liking this book already." David said softly. Mary Margaret stretched in her seat to peer over at the book and smiled too, looking at David and then Regina. Regina tried to hold back a small smile as well but Mary Margaret caught it.

"So you've read the entire book already, lad?" Killian asked Henry.

"Yup. And it's amazing! It's basically all the same stories, but better. Cora didn't kill Daniel, Mom never hated Grams and had her banished, Gold never became evil, and Grams never put mom into the wardrobe."

Mary Margaret scowled at Henry. "If I wasn't so interested in this story book I would be very upset with you."

Henry smiled.

"Wait a minute. Then what did happen? I mean, everything and everyone are the way they are because Gold became the dark one and Regina was the Evil Queen. Sure, a lot of bad happened, but if it weren't for them, none of us would be here." David asked.

"Exactly. We don't end up here at all. We all stay in the Enchanted Forest. Well, not we since I'm not in the stories. Well... not exactly anyway." Henry replied.

"Enough with the riddles, kid." Emma urges. "What exactly all happened in this book?"

Henry looked at Emma for a minute and then at everyone at the table. Realizing, in that moment, that this wasn't just a book for the rest of them. This is the lives that they could have had, that they probably should have had, was enough to make him take a deep breath and explain it all. So he told them a story of their lives.

* * *

"What's that o'er ther'?" He pointed to a plant on that ground that looked nearly identical to others around it.

"Birch." Roland replied in his high pitched voice, smiling when Robin nodded his head, causing his dimples to deepen.

"And that one, right ther'?"

"Aspen!" Roland exclaimed.

"Great. Before long Ro, you're going to be as good as your old man when it comes to the forests." Robin placed a large hand on Roland's and forced him to look up at him. "You're going to be better."

"But you know everything Dad."

Robin laughed throatily. "No, I don't. Not even close. I know a lot about trees, grass, plants, navigating the stars, and even how to navigate a new terrain by getting to know me environment. But ther's more to life than the forest Ro."

Roland scrunched his nose up, "Like what?"

Robin chuckled, "Family, for one. You can never replace family, Ro, you know that. And family isn't exclusive to blood either. Remember that. You can always add to your family even with those you aren't related to."

Roland nodded.

They continued to walk down a familiar path for five more minutes in silence before Robin's senses picked up something. He halted and grabbed Roland to make him pause.

"Dad—?"

"Ssh." Robin put up his finger to signal him to wait a minute. All Roland could hear was the small sound of the wind rustling through the leaves and the birds high above tweeting at each other. But Robin's hearing was more fine tuned than that.

Robin reached for his bow and pulled out an arrow from the sack he carried on his back. "Get behind me Roland and stay close. Do exactly as I say, do you understand?" Robin didn't wait to hear a yes though.

He slowly moved forward in the direction of the small moaning sounds. Something, most likely someone, was injured. And if it was injured, something had to cause that injury. He needed to be prepared for whatever it was.

He followed the sound until he made out the small outline of a body lying on the ground. Quickly he looked around with his bow ready, making sure that the coast was clear of the attacker. He noticed that the body wasn't moving. He quickly determined the body to be a female. He moved closer and noticed that she lay beside a small pond like body of water. Sharp, jagged rocks outline the edge near her head lay.

He didn't see the subtle movements of her body that suggested that she was still alive and he bent to check if she was breathing.

"Roland. Get my phone and call Regina."

Robin felt Roland dig around in his jacket pocket and retrieve the cell phone. Regina made him carry the damn thing around, he barely knew how to make it work. But Roland caught on quick—he was a smart boy. Robin moved the woman's hair from her face and noticed that he was saturated with a dark, sticky substance.

"Blood?" He whispered. He quickly scanned the rest of her body and noticed that her clothes hung off her and she had cuts and scrapes littering her face. She looked really young.

"What happened to you?" He whispered to himself more than her.

"—Daddy found a pretty lady in the forest...no...I don't think so...okay Gina." Roland turned to him. "Gina said they're gonna meet you at the doctor's."

"Thanks buddy." Robin tried to smile at him but it came out as a grimace.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Roland asked, looking worriedly at the small woman on the ground.

Robin looked at Roland, eyes softening when he saw the sincere concern for the young woman. "I don't know buddy. But I do know that somebody must really be missing her."

He carefully maneuvered the young woman into his arms and stood up, adjusting her a bit to make sure her neck was supported. He nodded his head for Roland to follow him out.

"How do you know someone is missing her?"

"Because she's a long way from home."

* * *

 **Enchanted Forest**

"You should really go home, I'm sure your parents are missing you."

"I always show up." The small child shrugged.

The older woman shook her head. The little girl and her horse followed her all the way home to her small hut. Luckily her son and husband were out somewhere or else she would've had to explain the day's events to him.

"I'm just going to drop these items off and then I am taking you home."

"Okay," the child agreed without a care in the world.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you to not go somewhere with strangers. " The dark haired woman quirked her eyebrow at the child.

"Yes, but you're not a stranger."

"Do you know me?"

"Yes. You're name is Regina."

Regina groaned. This child was too smart for her own good. "No, I mean you don't really know me. Just because you know someone's name doesn't mean they are a good person. They could hurt you. There are plenty of people that hurt children."

"But you didn't hurt me. You saved me." Morgan protested.

Regina sighed and looked at the small girl as she reached her home. She opened the door and checked to make sure the coast was clear before opening her door further to let the little girl in. The little girl looked around the house and noted it was much smaller than her home. But she didn't voice as much. Her parents and grandparents had always taught her that she was a very blessed young girl and most people don't have what she have. She was told to never point out someone else's misfortunes or compare theirs to yours because it can hurt their feelings. Regina was a nice lady and she didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"Okay," Regina announced after putting away her goods from the market. "Now where do you live so I can take you home?"

The little girl shrugged. "In the really big house."

"The big house where? There are a lot of really big houses."

Morgan shook her head causing her dark brown curls to go flying around her face. "Mmm. Not like my house. It's big and white and there's a really big gate. We got a big yard and there are men with guns to protect us."

Regina frowned, not liking where her thoughts were straying.

"Guards? Why do you need guards to protect you?" Regina bent down so that she and the child were eye-to-eye.

Her smile stretched across her whole face, exposing the two teeth that were missing in the front. "Because I'm a princess Regina. Princesses have to stay extra safe so they can grow big, like mommy, and become Queen so she can help everybody."

"Y-you're Queen Snow's daughter? But—" Regina stuttered. It's been years since she left. When her and Robin returned they wanted everything to just go back to normal and pretend as though they never left. But they didn't mingle with a lot of the villagers. They kept mostly to themselves, for their son's sake.

But the child shook her head once more. "Nope. Gramma Snow is my Gramma. Queen Emma is my mommy." She scrunched her nose up. "And sometimes daddy calls her Swan. But, I don't get it. Mommy's not a bird."

Regina's eyes widened.

* * *

 **ANNNND I'm going to end it there. I have so much planned for this and I hope you guys are enjoying it. I plan to update a bit more soon. Finals for me are coming up (5 FINALS! Ugghhhh) But as soon as those are over it's summertime baby! I promise to do a lot better when it comes to updating this summer.**

 **Anyway, as usual let me know what you thought of this chapter. Any questions? Leave it in the review section or private message me.**

 **UPDATE: ONE MORE FINAL TO GO (TOMORROW MORNING AT 830-KILL ME NOW)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I can't believe it's been a year since I've last updated. Yikes! I'm an asshole-seriously. If any of you guys following this story have been here from the beginning I would like to say: 1) You're the best. I mean it, you are truly amazing. And 2) Follow other stories as well just in case this annual updating persists. It'll distract you from my shitty update timing.**

 **As you'll see, I've been playing around a bit with the dimensions. I like the way the show switches between the two and will attempt to do the same in this story. Let me know what you think of it.**

 **But enough of my babbling on… let's go…**

 **Storybrooke, Maine**

"Who is she?" Regina asks, staring intently at the small woman in the bed covered in bandages. She had cuts and scrapes littered across her body. She was extremely thin. Her skin was unnaturally pale and stretched across her face unattractively.

Robin shrugged. "I found her like this in the forest when I was walking with Ro." He notices the way she's leaning in closer to the woman. "What's wrong? And where is everyone?" He asks finally look around the empty room.

Regina clears her throat and takes a step back composing herself. "I decided it was in everyone's best interests that I see what was going on first before involving them."

Robin smirked at her, eyes flickering over flawless skin and perfectly coiffed hair. She notices the staring and narrows her eyes.

"What?"

His smirk softens into a smile. "Nothing, I just remembered I forgot to tell you how beautiful you looked today."

Regina turns away trying (and failing) to hold back a smile. "You didn't forget. You told me four times this morning."

"I meant to tell you five times this morning." Regina laughs and pushes Robin playfully. "And I know you didn't tell everyone because you didn't want them crowding the waiting room."

Regina huffs and shoos a stray strand out of her eye. "Every time something's going on, the whole town wants to put their nosey butts into it. We need to keep this on the hush until we figure out who she is and return her."

Robin grimaces. "Well there might be a problem with that plan."

Regina frowns, "What did you do?" She looks around. "And where is Roland anyway?"

Robin pauses and laughs nervously. "Okay, two problems." Regina doesn't laugh along and he continues. "Well, I called David because he's the sheriff and he's the one we usually call in these situations."

Regina gives him a look. "Great. He'll tell his blabbermouth wife and the whole town'll know by tomorrow morning." She crosses her arms tightly. "And two?"

"I dropped Roland off at Emma's so Henry could babysit until we finished handling this."

"Forget what I said about morning. I expect them to be here, one, maybe two hours tops."

 **Enchanted Forest**

"See," The small girl pointed to the large pearly gates that guarded the castle and the dozens of large men that guarded the gates.

Regina tightened her grip on the horse's lead.

The tiny mop of dark curls marched without a care up to the gates, garnering the attention of the men. With recognition, and very little amusement, they opened up the gates.

"...and that's Regina. She's good. She rescued me today." Regina hears coming out of her thoughts.

The guards look at her warily. But one steps forward in slightly different garb than the others. Regina recognizes him as the head guard. He looks her over thoroughly before turning and kneeling in front of Morgan.

"Your parents have been worried sick, Captain." He smiles charmingly at her.

Morgan straightens her spine. "I will speak to to them lieutenant." She relaxes and then smiles brightly while shrugging. "Mommy and Daddy usually only stay mad until I give them the eyes."

He laughs deeply at her demonstration before swinging her onto his backs. At her loud giggles, Regina can't help but to let out a breath she wasn't aware that she was holding. He turns to look back at Regina. "They're gonna want to meet you, Ma'am."

Regina shakes her head and tries to hand him the lead. "I really must be going. My family-"

"Trust me, ma'am. I'm sure your family will understand."

She glares at him and looks at his nametag. "Well, _Baelfire_. You can explain to my husband and son why I was late for dinner."

He smiles again disarmingly, before bowing slightly. "Happy to oblige your highness."

Morgan erupts into a fit of giggles at the title and the affronted look on Regina's face.

"Regina isn't a highness, silly. She's just Regina."

Baelfire's eyes glints at Regina, making her frown, and responded to Morgan. "Of course, my mistake."

 **Storybrooke, Maine**

"...and then daddy told me to call Gina 'cuz Gina always knows what to do." Roland finished taking in a gulp of air.

"So you and Robin found an unconscious body in the woods and then called my mom?" Henry clarified and then looked at Emma. Emma stood up and grabbed her leather jacket from the back of the chair it was hanging on.

"Come on kids." She grabbed her car keys and fixed her hair out of the inside of her jacket.

Henry stood, helping Roland down from the high stool by the kitchen counter. He jogged quickly upstairs to grab his jacket and hesitated a second before throwing the book inside his bookbag, before running down the stairs.

Henry looked around. "Where's Killian?"

Emma looked up from tying Roland's shoes. "He said that he got a call from David-Dad, and that he'll be back soon. I'll let him know where we're going. Let's go." She finished and then stood up with her arms folded.

"Let's see what Regina and Robin are up to, hm?" She smiled at Roland who nodded happily.

She reached out for him to grab her hand and followed Henry out the door, and headed for the Bug.

"Buckle up, Buckaroo," she turned in her seat to face Roland, who sat in the back. Henry pulled on his seatbelt beside her.

Roland giggled, pulling the seatbelt across his shoulders and over his lap.

"Alright." Emma started the car and drove straight to the hospital. They pulled into the small Hospital Parking lot not ten minutes later and parked before exiting. "Henry, hold Ro's hand."

Henry helped Roland out the car and started towards the entrance when he noticed Emma wasn't following him. Turning around, he noticed that she was stood beside her driver's door, staring at the building with a far look in her eyes, and a hand near her stomach.

"Mom? Are you feeling okay?"

Emma shook her head, and looked at him grimacing. "I'm just feeling a bit weird. I think something big is happening, kid. And I'm willing to bet that whoever Robin found in the woods this morning have something to do with it."

She caught with him and they continued on.

Henry shrugged as they walked past the sliding doors and to the reception desk, "It could be a _good_ something big."

Emma smirked at her son, "Yes, because that would be just our luck, huh?" She asked sarcastically. Henry smiled. Emma turned to the blonde receptionist who was typing away at her desk. "We're looking for-"

The receptionist pointed to the right without looking away from her computer screen, "Upstairs in the ICU, room 206."

Emma gave the woman a weird look, "I didn't even tell you who I was looking for."

The blonde woman sighed and looked up bored. "With your family, there's only one guess. Strange, comatose patient found in the woods. No ID, nobody recognizes her, and an outsider who couldn't have possibly come here. Your family deals with the freakies this town gets." And then she turned back to her screen and continued typing.

Emma, Henry, and Roland turned to the right, in the direction of the elevators without another word.

Emma frowned. "Freakies?" she mutter to herself.

"Mom," Henry said reproachfully.

Emma, "What? I'm just saying." She shrugged. "And what was she typing so intently on her computer anyway? It's not like the people here do a lot or work. This town is small and there's no one in the waiting room," Emma looked back.

Roland leaned up on his toes and pressed the button for the elevator.

"It's not like she's wrong. Strange and freaky is what we do. It's in our blood." Henry smiled.

Emma quirked an eyebrow at him and one corner of her mouth turned up into a half smile. They got into the elevator and the pressed the button for the next floor. "You should not look that happy when you're saying that, Kid."

"I'm kind of proud of it, you know? It makes us unique."

Emma looked away, "That's not always a good thing you know? When you're unique, it makes it harder for you to blend in."

They stepped off the elevator.

"You mean hide," he amended her.

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing. Hiding keeps you safe."

"Safe from what?"

"Kid, as much as you've been exposed to, and it has been _plenty_ , you've still led a pretty safe life. You have a big family that looks out for you-moms with powers-not everybody gets that. So when someone gets the opportunity to blend in and not bring attention to themselves, it can be a good thing. It can be for their protection." She looked at Henry seriously.

Henry thought over what she said as they reached the door. Regina caught his eye and she threw her hands up in exasperation, frowning.

She turned to Robin, "What did I say?" Robin turned to face the group and smiled guiltily at Regina.

"Roland is kind of a gossip." Robin nodded to his son who smiled at the mention of himself.

 **Enchanted Forest**

"The King and Queen shall be down shortly," Baelfire walked into the dining hall where the dark haired woman waited. She sat in her chair anxiously, eyes darting around.

"Really, I really don't need to-"

Baelfire turned away from Regina's stuttering at the sound of approaching feet.

"And here they are." He bowed, lowering his head.

A tall man entered the room first, a man that made Regina pause. This man, who entered swaggering more than strolling elegantly in, was _not_ the King. At least, he wasn't king when she was last in the the Enchanted Forest.

This man had black hair, and a beard that matched. His eyes were shaded in kohl, causing the light blues of his eyes to stand out. He had an arrogant sort of smile on his face, which didn't seem out of place, for him, but there was a stiffness in his gait that Regina detected. As though, he did not feel entirely comfortable in the setting.

He felt her eyes roam over her quickly, before he stopped and looked backwards towards the woman who was following after. She carried Morgan on her hip, but that was the only thing that offset her royal appearance. Everything from the gentle blonde curls of her hair that fell ever-so right over her dainty shoulders, which were properly up, down to the methodically measured steps she took, belied her status. She was a Queen, born and bred.

And although Regina was taken off-guard, again, by this woman who she did not expect to see as Queen, this woman was not wholly unfamiliar. Regina narrowed her eyes and stood at the pointed cough of Baelfire.

She bowed low, lowering her eyes as the Royal family approached the table, knowing it inappropriate for her to look them in the eyes.

"No need for that, Miss," The deep, rich baritone of the King spoke. She lifted her head quickly and noted his amused look. She fought to give him a puzzled look, and her eyes kept darting to the woman beside him who was staring at her intently.

"Her name is Gina, daddy," Morgan whispered lightly, twisting out of her mother's arms and ran to his side. She cupped her hand around her mouth but spoke loud enough for all in the room to hear. "She's the one that rescued me today. You have to thank her, remember?"

She gave her father a pointed look and put her hands on her hips. The King smiled at her, and instead of berating her for her outspoken nature as Regina would have expected, he picked her up and tossed her in the air before swinging her onto his back.

"Right, of course Princess. How could I ever forget." He turned to Regina and smiled. There was no mistaken the light in his eyes that his daughter put there. "Thank you, Miss Gina, for bringing our Princess back. She's a bit a of rascally, lass, but she keep us on our toes."

Baelfire joined him in chuckling. Regina gave him a small smile and shook her head. She darted her eyes to the Queen quickly before responding. "It was no trouble, truly, your highness. Anybody would have helped her."

"Ah, yes, but as the guards relayed back to us, you were the only one who made a move to actually help her." He smirked at her puzzled look, that was now written blatantly across her face.

"The Princess is a sneaky one, no doubt. But she is not as good as she thinks." His hand disappeared behind him and Morgan gave out a tinkling laugh, that warmed Regina. "We have plenty of guards watching her at all times, even when she is not aware. And her personal guards are always close, even if they don't appear so. They saw the whole scene, and if it were not for your quickly handling of her steed, I don't believe her guards would have gotten to her in time."

Regina looked down and fought the warmth she felt growing in her cheeks. "All the same, your Highness, it was no trouble."

"We would like to personally thank you nonetheless."

"I don't require-"

"We insist," the Queen spoke for the first time since entering. Her soft green eyes pierced Regina in such a way that her breath caught momentarily. A memory dragged itself the forefront of her mind and hit her just as two more people entered the room. The very people she initially anticipated.

"Regina?" Snow gasped. She brought a hand to her throat and tears sprang to her eyes. David wrapped around her, but he was just as taken aback by the appearance of the older woman. Snow through decorum away and jogged to Regina, throwing an arm around her.

Morgan turned to Killian, confused. "Why is Grandma hugging Gina? Gina didn't save her."

But the Queen, Emma, answered. "She's your grandmother's best friend. And my godmother."

"Well, why wasn't she here before?" the small trio watched as David joined the two woman and put his arms around them both.

"I don't know, pumpkin." She looked at her daughter's puzzled face. Emma swore that if she had not gone through such a long labor, she could be convinced that she had nothing to do with Morgan's genes. Morgan had her father's coloring, with the dark curly hair and green-blue eyes, and her father's mannerisms. Even the small smattering of freckles that danced across her nose and over to her cheekbones.

The trio broke apart, her mother and father releasing Regina. Her mother wiped away the tears that had escaped and smiled. She grabbed the woman's hands with the both of hers and walked her over to them. David following closely behind, with an equally bright smile.

Regina, although her eyes shone with unshed tears, had an uncomfortable grin on her face.

"Emma, Killian, little Princess, " she made a silly face at Morgan, causing her to giggle, "I want you to meet Regina. She's family, and your godmother, Emma."

"I know, mom. I remember," Emma rolled her eyes but smiled softly. "I wasn't that young when she left."

"I'm-well, things were really complicated," Regina looked away uncomfortably and Emma waved her hand.

"No need to explain, really. Trust me, I completely understand how...complicated things can get around here and the need to just get away from it all." Emma walked closer to Regina and put a soft hand on her arm.

Killian snorted and Emma ignored the shared look between her parents.

Regina's body sagged a little more, and she let out a barely audible chuckle."Yes, this space can be quite suffocating, even for a castle."

Snow stepped forward. "Come, come. We have to catch up on everything. Starting from where you went. And you are to tell me of this husband I heard you mention. Oh! I have to tell you about how Emma and Killian met! It's such a fun story to tell, even compared to David and I's." She chattered about dragging Regina along.

Killian followed behind them, carrying Morgan on his hip, whispering to her, no doubt another story. And David put a comforting arm around Emma.

"Dad?"

"Yes, Emma?"

"I have a feeling things around here are going to get a bit more interesting."

David looked at his daughter and returned the same smile. "I think I sense the same thing, little one."

 **Storybrooke, Maine**

"Who is she?" Emma studied the unconscious woman in the bed. The gown seemed to swallow her figure. Different bruises and scrapes littered the young woman's face, relaying that she had been in some sort of fight, and perhaps did not win.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Do you think if I knew who she was that you'd all be here?" Regina looked pointedly at the small gathering in the room, that included Hook and David, who arrived just after Emma and the boys.

"To be fair, when mysterious people arrive in town, they usually have some sort of connection or vendetta against you." David shrugged and gave her an apologetic look.

Regina looked at David affronted, "Excuse me, but shall I remind you about Elsa, Bae, Bae's fiance, Robin, and his Merry Crew, and all of Camelot, had nothing to do with me?"

"Actually," Killian began but Henry interrupted her.

"Wait!" He reached hurriedly into his backpack and pulled out the new storybook. He quickly paged through the book before placing the open book gently at the foot of the bed. The book was open to the close-up portrait of a young girl smiling down from an open window, staring at something out of the frame.

Emma leaned forward and gasped, looking back at the young woman in the bed.

"That's-" Henry started to say.

"My daughter." Emma finished. Her eyes met Killian's over the bed. Both of them filled with question, bewilderness, and just the tiniest bit of happiness. But , mostly that.

"Our daughter." Hook came closer to the bed, looking down at the young woman, who pale face lay unmoving.

Regina thumbed through the book and looked back the girl. "I don't know how this is possible, or what this means, but I have a feeling that if she's here, she's not the only one that came from this book."

Regina grabbed the book quickly, ignoring Henry's protests. "I'm going to take this book back to my office and reading it over carefully. I'm going to see which of the characters in this story are different from the original so that we can prepare ourselves for the other arrivals."

"I'll come with you. It looks like a lot of reading," Robin suggested with a smile, grabbing Roland's hand. The three left the room together, leaving the two new parents still staring at the girl and a frozen David.

"I-I…"

Henry walked over to him and gave him a pat on the back. "Come on, let's go tell grandma. She's gonna be upset that she was the last one to know about this."

He walked the befuddled man out of the room, leaving only Emma and Killian with the bedridden patient.

"Swan…"

"Killian…"

They started at the same time and laughed awkwardly. Killian scratched behind his ear and looked up at the ceiling while Emma avoided eye contact.

"Well," Killian cleared his throat. "I can't say I didn't hope or dream to have a family together. Not that I don't consider Henry a son, but-"

"I know. I...I can't lie and say that the idea hadn't crossed my mind a time or two. Us buying the house, and living with Henry, things felt really... _stable_. You know? Like the next step wasn't far off from us." She continued to avoid the gaze she felt searing her cheek.

Neither of them said the word aloud that they were both thinking, both not wanting to freak the other out.

"Yeah…" was all Killian could say.

Emma huffed out a breath, fed up with the awkwardness. "Okay, this is ridiculous. This is our-our daughter." She choked out the last word. "I'm not sure how she got here or why she's here but…" she trailed off.

"Swan, are you upset?" Killian asked with an unreadable tone in his voice. Emma's head jerked to his.

"No. Not upset. Upset isn't the right word. But I'm, I don't know. Confused. If we had a child in that other storybook, where things were supposed to be 'perfect', why is she in this world where everything is-well…"

"A little screwy." Killian finished her sentence with a quiet laugh.

Emma shrugged and laughed. "Yeah, I guess. I just don't get it. I feel like we're being tested or something. If this was the plan all along, then why now? Is she supposed to be some type of warning to us that we need to start having kids. Is this Fate's way of fucking with us that this is what we could've had, if we had just-" Emma broke off, tears choking her up. Killian moved over to wrap his arms around her quickly.

"Perhaps, she's our reward for saving the world's ass more times than we can count. Or maybe, just maybe," he took Emma's face in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away her tear. She leaned into him, "maybe, this just happened for no grand reason at all. She's here Swan. A girl whose a mixture of you and I from an alternate dimension." he rolled his eyes at that last part.

"I say we just see where this leads us. Okay? I think things will be a bit more interesting this time, but in a good way. At least, entertaining. I have no idea what to do with a daughter, Swan." he laughed, but his eyes were a bit panicked.

Emma hearing it in his voice laughed this time and backed up a bit.

"Henry is boy, soon to be a man. He's easy. But a girl. Who probably has your temper and your tendency to get into trouble."

"My temper and tendency to get into trouble?" Emma asked incredulously. "Need I remind you which one of us was a pirate for three hundred years?" She quirked a golden eyebrow at him.

"No, no, no Swan. Let's not bring up the past. Because we can talk about which one of us has been arrested before, twice."

Emma scoffed and pushed in a bit. "One of those times I was set up, and the other was when Regina still hated me. But I've arrested you before too."

"But who has been the Dark One before?" He quirked an eyebrow at her and rubbed his lip.

"Both of us!" She snorted.

"Oh right," he wrinkled his brow at that. "Welp, I guess our daughter really never had much of a chance to begin with."

She smiled up at him. "No, I guess she really didn't did she. Not with us as parents anyway. But Henry is a good boy, and he had me and Neal as parents, as screwed up as the boy of us were." she grimaced a bit at the end.

"Yes, but he was had Mary Margaret as a teacher and a storybook that he convinced himself was really."

"It _was_ real, though."

"Yes, but the child was a bit odd, you must admit." Emma laughed but pinched his side for that comment. Killian grabbed her hand and squeeze it softly before bringing it up to his lips to kiss it.

"No matter, we'll have everyone behind us as support. Your parents, Henry, Regina and Robin. The whole town really. How hard can it be to raise a teenage girl?" Killian scoffed.

Emma snorted again, "Famous last words, Killian." She laid a hand on the sleeping girl's head and brushed back the dark curls revealing a long scar just beneath her hairline.

"I don't think she came from that Storybook, Killian. Look how badly she's hurt."

Killian's eye catalogued the scars and cuts with the same blend of sadness and anger that Emma was. He also bemusedly took in her thinness that the hospital gown was barely hiding.

"I think you might be right about that Swan. If that world was perfect, or was supposed to be if we did things the right way, why would she be hurt like this?"

Emma ran her hands gently through the young woman's curls. Killian hated the pained look that crossed her face and hated to think what could have hurt their daughter. He just hoped Emma wasn't blaming herself.

He wrapped both of his arms around her waist and kissed her forehead, pouring his love into the gesture. She leaned into it, closing her eyes but never pulled her hand away from their daughter.

Not until they heard a gasp and they both opened their eyes to see teal ones staring straight at them.


End file.
